So while they’re gone, us rice experts can consider together why I’m posting about this at all.

When in a Thai food situation, you may find yourself facing a choice of rice. Khao plao (on the right of the photo) is plain steamed rice. The kind of thing we’re all familiar with.

On the left of the photo is khao neow, which is sticky rice. It is served in a solid lump, and you tear small bits off and after dipping in the more interesting dishes on the table, devour with much chewing.

I generally prefer plain rice, as I find the clumpy squidgy texture of sticky rice somewhat awkward to eat, and I find it an odd companion to things like som tam Thai.

4 thoughts on “Thailand Food Exploration: Khao”

A while ago I bought an immense bag at a local Asian shop and had fun cooking it in various ways (including – which may offend some people – in the microwave!). It is also known as glutinous rice, and if you do a quick search online there are lots of UK places that sell it. The internet is also full of recipes using it, so without too much effort you could be eating some in no time!